Letters on the Doorstep
by Tsukiko Elric
Summary: Naruto finds a love letter on his doorstep and can't figure out who it's from. His friendship with his secret crush becomes strained. GaaNaru GaaxNaru
1. Chapter 1

A/N: My first little mini-something! Whoo-ho! Gotta love those WaMu commercials. Any who, this was my little triplet child until I found out the last chapter was never ending. Now it's a quartet. Next part probably out tomorrow, unless I get really bored or I get lots of wonderful reviews. The latter is probably the most effective way. Don't think of it as bribery, think of it as inspiration.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I wouldn't be upset that there was no manga update after that huge, we all secretly saw it coming, at least the Itachi-lover's did, revelation. So yeah, not mine.

* * *

Today was nearly guaranteed to be horrible. The blond's sleep had been fitful; he woke repeatedly throughout the night. When he finally abandoned the idea of getting actual rest Naruto saw how unbelievably _late_ he was. The old hag had wanted to meet with him more than two hours ago. He just _knew_ she would spend the better part of the day chewing him out for it. And to top it all off his best friend was now gone. The kitsune had planned on seeing him off but the red-head would be long gone by this point.

It was the last one that depressed him the most. Naruto had already admitted, to himself and a select few, the existence of his crush -no, it was so much more than that now- on Gaara. Not being able to wish him a safe journey and to beg him to come back soon would have the blond in a slump for days.

Naruto swung his legs over the edge of his bed and sat there for a minute, soaking in the sun splashed across his skin. There was no use in rushing; he'd still be late and in trouble no matter how fast he moved. After showering, getting dressed and eating breakfast, he opened the door to take a step out. This action was hindered at the sight of the small square of white set before him. Written across the top was _Naruto_.

The script used to craft those six letters was careful, flowing, and beautiful. Blinking a few times, he picked up the envelope and placed it on the table inside his apartment.

Naruto left then, a small smile gracing his features. Maybe today wouldn't be all bad…

* * *

His head was pounding. Tsunade had yelled, and yelled, and yelled, and then he had no idea what was going on because he was drifting in and out of sleep. A chakra-charged punch brought him back to reality.

"Damnit hag, I was having a nice dream too," Naruto had complained, rubbing the swelled area of his head.

"Cheer up brat. He'll be back in a few weeks."

And Naruto did, well as much as he could with the _thumping_ in his head.

When Tsunade let him go home, the kitsune went straight to bed, forgetting dinner and that oh-so-interesting letter. The pain in his head was just too much.

He reawakened at about 11 o'clock to a grumbling stomach. With a cup of steaming instant ramen, Naruto sat at the table to sate his hunger.

The envelope rest across from him, calling to him and begging his attention. Unfortunately, it didn't beg enough to get the young man to abandon his precious ramen but he did stare at it while he ate. Finally, _finally_, he was done and tearing open the envelope to read the letter.

_Dear Naruto,_

_I know that if you ever discover I wrote this, you'll surely laugh. But I know you will understand my reasoning. I have never been good at expressing my feelings and this was the only way I could bring myself to tell you. I'm in love with you. I have been for a while. You have saved me countless times and all you ask in return is my friendship. That is something I give wholeheartedly._

_Do you have any idea how beautiful you are? At times I know I'm staring but I can't stop myself. If you've ever caught me, you never said anything and for that I'm grateful. Those eyes of yours, they have the habit of mesmerizing people. The only thing more beautiful than those crystal clear depths of yours is your smile. Oh Kami, it's like the radiance of a god. My heart beat quickens and rouge colors my cheeks when I look at your happy expression._

_There are so very many things I love about you, Naruto. It would be best if I stopped now though. If I continue on I'll never be ready when you arrive. I will write again, unless you'd rather I didn't. Should that be the case I will never bother you again._

_Love, Writer_

Naruto read and reread the letter until he could see every dip and curve of the words in his head. His conclusion was that whoever wrote it was smart.

"Writer" said they weren't good at expressing their feelings. The shinobi knew so _many_ people like that. Well, not _many_ many, but more than one. With more than one name he couldn't figure out who exactly sent it.

The "you have saved me countless times" bit wasn't helpful at all. Naruto made sure to always protect his precious people. And the only thing he ever asked anyone for was friendship.

One paragraph analyzed and he didn't even know if the sender was male or female. So Naruto did the best thing he could think of. He told every single person he knew so he could gauge their reactions. The blond had become adept at reading the slightest changes in expression and body language after falling in love with the young Kazekage.

He began with the most obvious, Sasuke. He always swore that boy's emotional growth had been stunted. Naruto had saved him from the life of a missing-nin by dragging him, literally, back to Konohagakure.

So it made sense that it could have been him. Alright, it made so sense whatsoever but Naruto **really** wanted to make sure it wasn't him. The thought of "Writer" being the Uchiha actually scared the _shit_ out of the blond. The raven had the tendency to become **more** than obsessed about things.

Unfortunately, that would all have to wait until morning. The demon-holder dropped the empty ramen cup in the trash and the fork in the sink before trudging back to bed where he was haunted by images of Sasuke chasing him through the streets, declaring his love for the entire village to hear.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: There were only going to be two letters, one in the first chapter and one in the last. When I wrote this chapter, a letter kind of forced itself in here. I'm hoping Naruto would have matured somewhat as he got older, I'd say he and Gaara are in their early 20s in this, so the letter isn't just a mass of OOC.  
I wasn't sure what to do with Izumo. I don't think he would still be a Chuunin, but his nickname, "the sexy chuunin guy", wouldn't fit anymore if he were a Jounin.  
Reviews make me happy, which makes me want to make you happy, which leads to the third chapter.

Disclaimer: I hate Sasuke with a passionate passion. He'd have fallen off a cliff a long time ago if I owned Naruto. But right about now he probably feels like he has.

* * *

Naruto slumped down on his couch, defeated. No one, _no one,_ **no one** had shown any signs of being the one to have written the letter. Either someone was better than Gaara at covering their emotions, which he doubted because Gaara was best at everything, or the kitsune was losing his touch. And he really really hoped that wasn't the case because then he would never have any idea as to what was going on in the gorgeous red-head's mind.

Naruto wasn't sure, but if he had to choose between not understanding Gaara and Sasuke being love-sick over him, he would probably, more than likely, almost certainly pick a love-sick Uchiha, at least then the "blank" look Gaara wore wouldn't actually be so blank.

Like when the ex-demon holder was anxious, he bit the right side of his lower lip ever-so-slightly. It was absolutely adorable to see.

Relaxation for the young man, which only happened when the two were alone, loosened the perpetually tensed muscles under that pale skin. Those were the times when Gaara would talk more and let that small smile of his surface.

A sparkle lit beautiful blue-green eyes and the small smile grew when the older male was happy.

Embarrassment was probably Naruto's favorite of Gaara's emotions. Thoughts of the solitary incident which resulted in a flushed Kazekage always led to a lecherous smile and a nose-bleed for the blond. Said incident occurred during a trip to Sunagakure when Naruto "accidentally" walked in on his friend getting out of the bath. Oh the dreams he'd had since then.

So Naruto refused to give up. He resolved himself to prove he could still read people and no one was better than Gaara at hiding emotions.

For weeks he continued to mention the letter but there were still no implications as to who wrote it. When Gaara visited next he found a dejected blond instead of a ball of sunshine. He thought something serious must have happened for the boy to be so affected.

Naruto was dragged away by his crush, who decided to stare at him until he spilled his guts. In that gaze the younger ninja found worry for someone close, anger at not being confided in, and reassurance that everything would be all right.

Upon seeing this, the blond realized the letter didn't matter. The only important thing was Gaara's friendship.

He smiled up at the pale man warmly, telling him he was fine. Gaara let relief flick briefly across his face before being dragged all over the village by his companion.

Two days later Naruto received another letter. This one divulged the lovable quirks of his personality. After reading it, he marked the date on his calendar, as well as the date of the first, and left it at that.

This went on for seven months. The young shinobi would randomly receive a letter, mark the date down, and continue on with life. Not much of his time was spent dwelling on the identity of the sender, only a few brief moments.

After seven months the man decided it was time to write back.

_Writer,_

_I appreciate your feelings and the letters you've sent. I can't return those feelings though. I'm already in love with someone. Your letters have helped me decide to tell him. I'm sorry, but please don't write anymore._

_Naruto_

He placed the short letter in an envelope, scribbled "Writer" quickly over the top, placed the envelope in a clear plastic bag, and left it outside his door beneath a stone. He then left to meet with Gaara; the Kazekage was visiting and would be returning home in a few days so the blond was trying to squeeze as much time in as possible.

The next morning the letter was gone. Naruto didn't understand why, but he suddenly had a horrible, I-have-just-ruined-everything-in-my-life feeling.

When he went to Gaara's hotel to help the red-head pass the time before his meeting, Temari told him the male had already left. The feeling of the world crashing down around him drove Naruto to pace outside the meeting room doors.

Tsunade emerged hours later looking completely spent. After one look at her godson, she knew what he wanted. "He's not here brat. The kid wanted to finish everything today. We still had two days of meetings and he somehow managed to squeeze it all in. Kazekage-sama transported himself out of here as soon as we were done. It was all very strange."

"Thank you obaa-chan," the kitsune called as he ran down the stairs of the Hokage Tower and back to the hotel room.

Upon bursting through the door to the room, he found it vacant. The terrible emotions twisting in his gut increased their painful torture.

He pushed himself to his limits when he ran out of the hotel and toward the village gates. There, gasping for breath and hunched over, he asked Izumo, who was currently guarding the gate, if he'd seen the Sand Siblings.

The gaze from the Jounin's chocolate eyes portrayed worry. "Yeah. They left in a hurry about fifteen minutes ago."

Hoisting himself up and putting his remaining energy into it, he sprinted back to the Hokage Tower and collapsed in front of his leader's desk.

"When… is he… coming back?" Each pause was punctuated by an immense intake of breath.

"Three weeks."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Oh my goo-ness! Thanks for the reviews. Especially Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare because she hates Sasuke too. And yeah, Naruto doesn't know what he's done yet. So when he does find out what's going on, there's some language. Only a smidge. Oh nos. Only one chapter left. Lovely reviews will make me post it faster.

Disclaimer: I bought a Mountain Dew a few hours ago. It cost 55 cents. If I gathered all the change in my room, I don't think I'd have enough to buy Naruto. I would if I could, honest.

* * *

Naruto tried to return to his normal disposition but there was always chaos swirling in the back of his mind.

Three weeks, twenty-one days, five-hundred and four hours, thirty-thousand two-hundred forty long, hard minutes later, he was waiting nervously at the entrance to the village for the arrival of a particular Sunagakure ninja. After a few minutes of waiting, the blond slipped into the by-now-normal stream of thoughts concerning his future confession to his friend.

He knew Gaara wouldn't hate him, the older male hadn't thought anything of it when Neji and Lee got together. But he might be uncomfortable with the fact that he was the object of Naruto's affection.

Only in his wildest dreams, and they'd gotten pretty wild over time, did the pale man return his feelings.

A blow to the head with a giant fan effectively knocked him out of his thoughts and to the ground. Turning his head, he found a blonde kunoichi _glaring_ at him.

Temari was very rarely angry with him; she was much too grateful to him for pounding some sense into her baby brother. Right now though, she was furious and he had no idea _why_.

There was no sand-smoothed hand helping him up and that fact worried him more than Temari's anger.

"Where's Gaara?"

Her eyes narrowed and her tone filled with spite. "Home." She stepped around him and began heading to the Hokage Tower.

Naruto jumped up, chasing after her. "Why didn't he come?"

The girl wouldn't even turn to look at him. "I don't know but I'm sure it has something to do with you."

The blond stopped in his tracks, eyes lost and confused.

The next time the Sand was supposed to visit, Kankuro showed up.

By that time it had been two months. Two months without Gaara. Everyone noticed the toll it was taking on him. Two months had him lacking his trademark humor. Three months, still Temari or Kankuro being sent to meetings, and he had no humor left. Four months of separation led to the young man's lack in appetite, even ramen wasn't very appealing. Five months… five months and his heart-warming smile was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh shit!" a voice cried out.

Clear blue orbs lowered to gaze at the piece of paper clinging to a clothed leg. The owner of the orbs bent and picked up the white sheet, glancing at the words displayed on it.

The owner of the paper stopped in front of him. Naruto looked up to find Temari. The girl was still mad at him, but less so after seeing the effects of being away from her brother for so long.

"What's this?"

She let her breath out in a huff. "Gaara wrote notes for me. Wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything."

Finally, after five months, after twenty weeks, after one-hundred and forty days the blond's eyes lit up. "Gaara wrote it personally?"

The kunoichi scoffed. "Of course. He wouldn't push his work onto others."

And finally, after such a long time, he smiled. The paper, covered with a shockingly familiar handwriting, was thrust into the Sand ninja's hand before the demon-holder rushed off to his apartment.

He grabbed the calendar hanging on his wall before running to the Hokage's office. "Obaa-chan I need your help!"

"What is it, brat?" The woman, regardless of her annoyed tone, was happy to see Naruto so excited.

"What was going on May twentieth?"

Despite being thoroughly confused, Tsunade pulled out her more detailed planner. "That was the day the Kazekage returned home after a round of meetings, but why-"

"And June thirtieth?" Naruto interrupted.

"That was in the middle of the trade discussions between Sunagakure and Konohagakure."

Again and again the kitsune called out dates and the Sannin told him they were days when the Kazekage was in the village.

His eyes widened in shock when he was done. "Oh shit," was the first thing to come out of his mouth. "No, no, no, no, **NO**! Fuck!" Naruto crouched down on the ground, head held in his hands while he screamed a stream of curses.

Standing up, he slammed his hands on his godmother's desk. "I need to go to Sunagakure."

He wanted to be taken seriously so he was trying to be serious.

"The Suna representative just left today. We really don't have anything to send you for."

"Please," his voice dropped with desperation. "I did something beyond stupid and I need to fix it."

She sighed. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun. As soon as I have something I'll let you know."

Just as the young man was righting himself, Shizune burst in. "Hokage-sama! Temari-san seems to have made a major error on the peace treaty. The entire thing will have to be reviewed."

The older woman smirked at the male in the room. "Looks like I got that mission you wanted. Be ready to leave first thing in the morning."

A grin swallowed the blond's tan face. "Of course." He left, pausing at the door to offer his quiet thanks.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: So it's finally over. So um, I'm one of those people that don't think Gaara would be innocent. I mean really, his brother is a giant pervert. Just keep that in mind. Thanks to IEatChicken, Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare, Mouse Kaiser, Gabby0214, wicked witch of the south west, and xHakumeix.

Disclaimer: I have a Nissan. If I owned Naruto, I sure would be driving a Mustang. Or maybe a Porsche.

* * *

Gaara felt horrible. Actually, he'd felt miserable for the past five months, but today was different. A tingling feeling had sprouted in his stomach nearly two hours ago and it seemed determined to stay put.

After a growl crawled up from his throat, the boy decided to give up his attempt at completing paperwork and to just head home.

He set out into the streets of _his_ village, the already-cool air of the night pressing against him. _His_ people wished him a good night, no longer afraid of him now that the demon had been extracted.

He stopped in front of his door and let his perfunctory gaze drop to the steps. _Gaara_ was written atop a small envelope in messy handwriting he immediately recognized. He didn't want to, really, really didn't, but he had to read the letter.

The pale hand stretching out to grab the letter shook a bit. Breath shallow and heart thumping, he lifted the flap, which hadn't been sealed, slid the letter out, and unfolded it to be read.

_Gaara,_

_First, I want to tell you about what's been going on and then I'm gonna bitch you out for abandoning me._

_See, I had this best friend who ran away right when I was about to tell him I love him._

Gaara stopped reading, thinking, breathing for sixty seconds. He knew he shouldn't have read the letter, shouldn't have put his heart, as torn and damaged as it was, out in the open for breaking. _So it's Sasuke then…_

_I always thought he was perfect but running away was definitely a stupid thing to do. It was absolute torture being away from him. Of course, I went after him. Well, it actually took me awhile to chase him._

_Now for your bitch out…_

The red-head was confused. Naruto hadn't written about how he and Sasuke got together. His next breath caught in his throat as his mind whirled. Maybe… maybe it was the blond's way of saying he had no place in his life. Sure, he'd sworn to stay away from Konohagakure but he'd held an infinitesimal hope that the fox boy would visit him.

Now though, now he suspected this letter would be the last contact he would ever have with the beautiful blond. His hand clutched over his heart and his breathing became quick and shallow.

"Calm down Gaara. Don't have a heart attack." Naruto was leaning against his front door and offering a worried gaze.

Blue-green eyes looked back with confusion.

"I was inside waiting for you. Wanted to surprise you so I masked my chakra. That never used to work." The emotion displayed by his bright blue orbs changed to disappointment.

"It still doesn't. My senses have been aware of you since your arrival." _I simply didn't want to believe it._

Naruto's presence, as always, was calming him. His breathing slowed, mind cleared, and the tingling in his stomach, which always signaled Naruto was near, turned into a warm buzzing.

"I'm really mad you, you know. I never would have written that stupid letter if I'd known." Naruto locked eyes with the older man. "Why didn't you tell me? And then you left before I could tell you-"

"I don't want to know about you and the Uchiha," the paler one snapped.

The tan male blinked a few times before letting a sly grin spread across his face. "Jealous, eh?"

A growl slipped from the back of the other's throat.

"Alright, alright. I could never be in love with that teme. _You're_ the one I'm in love with."

"What?" Naruto had spoken so softly and Gaara was _sure_ he hadn't heard it right.

"Come here, _Kazekage-sama_," the blond mocked.

Gaara was reluctant but he stepped forward until a foot-and-a-half separated them. The kitsune reached out to grab a hold of his clothes and pulled the elder down until both their lips were at the other's ear.

The brushing of hot air against his neck and quiet whispers in his ear almost caused a shiver to ripple down the taller male's frame.

"You. I'm in love with you."

Naruto waited patiently, okay, maybe he fidgeted nonstop, for his friend, hopefully soon-to-be-boyfriend, to process this information. He was surprised, but pleasantly so, when a set of warm lips pressed against his own. Pushing forward passionately, he wrapped his arms around a pale neck and pulled the man closer.

He was surprised again when a slick tongue ran over his bottom lip. His mouth opened eagerly to invite the muscle in. The entire space was mapped out by the foreign tissue.

When they finally broke apart, with red and swollen lips, Naruto was very glad he hadn't moved far from the door because he doubted his ability to stand. Gaara rested his forehead against a tan one, his eyes closed.

"I didn't think," he took a deep breath, "you would know," another breath, "what you were doing."

"Kankuro," the other explained.

One more deep breath and the blond was returned to his normal breathing pattern. "Before I forget, you need to punish Temari. Though without her and those wonderful notes you wrote her I would have never known you were the one writing those letters, she still needs to face the consequences of her actions. Even with your notes, your handwriting is gorgeous by the way, she still messed up a bunch of stuff in the new treaty. Now I'm stuck here for at least six months to sort it all out, but it'll more likely be about a year since you and I can never agree."

Gaara opened his eyes to find a satisfied grin on Naruto's lips before he locked eyes with the ninja.

"I'm thinking that a month spent in Konohagakure with a certain lazy-ass should teach her a lesson."

"That's a wonderful idea," he removed his head from the shorter man's.

"Hey _boyfriend_."

"Hm."

Naruto's perpetual smile grew when the red-head answered to the word. "You should kiss me again."

"That's an even better idea," Gaara replied before reacquainting his mouth with Naruto's.


End file.
